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“Slice of Laodicea” Goes Dark

Orginally published on Monday, January 08, 2007 at 2:51 PM
by Todd Rhoades

It seems the blog Slice of Laodicea has gone off the web. According to a notice on the site from owner Ingrid Schlueter, the 'Slice' site will be replaced in the next couple of weeks with a new, improved site. Interesting developments...

The Slice site has been part of a growing group of “apprising” websites who call out those churches and leaders who are innovative in any way, shape or form. Slice, in particular, has had nothing nice to say about Rick Warren, Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, or anybody involved with or who supports any type of emergent or innovative church.

I’ve critiqued them here at MMI from time to time for their narrow view of ministry; and their mean-spirited attacks on other Christians with whom they don’t believe.

But today, the site is quiet. Just a letter that reads the following…

Dear Slice Readers:
A new website is under development that will incorporate the writing talents of several different contributors on discernment issues facing the church. While the Slice format was popular and useful, we are hoping that the new format will be superior in the way it offers needed information for the body of Christ. When the new website is up, it will have a new domain but the http://www.sliceoflaodicea.com address will link directly to it. We hope to have the site up and running within two weeks. At the time that the new site is unveiled, there will be new contact information available.

A warm thank you to all of you who read and benefited from the links and articles on Slice. However imperfectly the information was presented, our hearts desire here at Slice was to lift up the name of Jesus and to draw people back to the Word of God.

Sincerely,

Ingrid Schlueter

I wonder what happened? Why would anyone take their site down before the next, ‘new improved’ site was ready? I understand that emails are not working currently as well. And all the back issues and posts for Slice have also been taken down (or at least are no longer posted). As a matter of fact; if you click any of their past links at Technorati or Google; they now go to the generic page for free web host atspace.com (which shows two women embracing, asking you to ‘get your flirt on’ as well as ads for poker sites and red hot celebrity videos. (Wonder what Ingrid would write if some of Rick Warren’s links led to such things?)

Many of you who know my heart know that I consider the folks at Slice as Brothers and Sisters (althought they might not feel the same about those of us at MMI); but I do think they’ve been misguided. While I’m not sure what caused this sudden change of course, I hope that the new site will be a little kinder and gentler to those with whom they disagree.

About the Author: Todd Rhoades is the Managing Editor and Publisher of MondayMorningInsight.com (MMI as most of us know it). Besides spending a good amount of time maintaining this website, Todd is on the staff of Leadership Network, helping large churches to better connect, innovate, and multiply what they do best. Todd was also the founder of ChurchStaffing.com, until he sold the site in 2005. Todd lives with his wife, Dawn, and four children in Bryan, OH. He can be reached at .

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There are 5 Comments:

Posted by

Monday, January 08, 2007 at 4:15 PM

Slice is gone unofficially for two reasons:

http://www.sliceOlaodicea.com

and

http://www.sliceDlaodicea.com

Ingrid, in typical SOL fashion, caused a blogstorm by getting angry about these parody sites, namely the first one in which she accused the author of hiding behind a false name: Christen Guilder. However, Christen Guilder is actually an anagram of Ingrid Schlueter...something she failed to realize. And even after it was spelled out for her (literally), she still continued in her accusations as if she was just ignoring the anagram. She completely missed her hypocrisy when it was revealed she is also one of the main contributers to some blog called Goatees and Funky Glasses where she goes by a pseodonym.

I suspect that her hypocrisy became so apparent that she killed her own site for a while so that others could not see it, hoping that the blogstorm would calm down and forget about it. It should be noted that absolutely no mention of an upcoming new site was ever mentioned before going dark.

Ingrid bit off more than she could chew and was made to look like a fool to anyone with a “DISCERNING” eye.

I’m loving it.
Posted by

Monday, January 08, 2007 at 4:16 PM

appendum:

the first parody site mentioned, http://www.sliceOlaodicea.com, can be a little too crude. fyi.
Posted by

Monday, January 08, 2007 at 4:42 PM

An even better analysis:

http://www.verumserum.com/?p=799
Posted by

Tuesday, January 09, 2007 at 7:29 AM

I doubt that it will be less mean-spirited. I hope I’m wrong, but I’ve read, from time to time, the responses to the posts, and they were often so filled with misquotes, quotes out of context, and over-theologizing… I expect that to continue.

But I’m not sure about the parody sites either…

I’d love to read a blog where the rules of engagement are like they are here at MMI, and each day one of our MMI posters posts, and then Ingrid does… but respectfully. I’m on record as saying I LOVE to hear a POV that disagrees with me, but I HATE misquotes, mean-spiritedness, over-theologizing, and gratuitous assumption. I hope they re-open with some new rules…
Posted by

Tuesday, January 09, 2007 at 2:17 PM

I will not miss Slice. I’ll check out it’s re-incarnation, but if it is in the same spirit I’ll avoid it as well. Way too much negativity, and a blog needs to either allow comments and moderate them fairly, or no allow comments at all. Moderate comments if you must, but don’t manipulate them like Slice did.

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